Allaire, who along with his brother, Benoit, teaches many of Quebec's best young goalie prospects in summer camps, agrees with Denis' assessment. He has seen the quality of students at his camp rise each and every year.

He points to Florida's Luongo as a perfect example. Luongo, now 23, attended his goaltending school as a 14-year-old. At the time, Luongo was one of the best soccer players in his age group in all of Montreal. Yet, he had already been won over to a life in hockey, specifically goaltending, and came to Allaire's camp looking to get better.

Conventional wisdom suggests that Quebec-based goalies are so good because the majority of them play in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League during their developmental years. Of the three Junior A leagues under the Canadian Hockey League umbrella, the QMJHL is considered the most wide-open. In fact, it is not unusual to see a goalie face 50 or more shots.

"The goalie sees 40 to 50 shots every game and the goalie gets a lot of work to improve his game in the Q," says Labbe. "With all that work, you tend to get better. Even if you see 50 shots and let in five goals, that's not a bad game."

The wide-open nature of the "Q" and the resulting workload doesn't fully explain why so many Quebec goalies develop into NHL stars, says Denis.

"I've been asked that question numerous times and there are lots of theories about that," he says. "That the Quebec league is an offensive league is one of those theories and although I agree with that to some extent, it goes beyond that. I think the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League was one of the first leagues to understand that you build a team from the goaltender out and that it was important from an early age to train good athletes to be goaltenders."

The Quebec hockey system takes the mandate to develop goalies and build teams around elite goaltenders very seriously. From a young age, goalies are now carefully selected, screened and extensively coached. Denis says he encountered his first goaltender coach as a 7-year-old and has never been without one since. Allaire says goaltending coaches in Quebec's youth leagues make their first appearance at the Atom level and remain a constant throughout the youth game.

Not only do the coaches remain constant, almost all of them teach the same system. The butterfly style of goaltending is almost a religion among the province's goalkeepers. The Allaires are the philosophy's leading practitioners.

Mitch Korn, the goaltending coach of the Nashville Predators, has 11 years of experience in the NHL. He's watched the pipeline of goalies from Quebec flood the market. He is amazed at the level of success they have had at the game's highest level, but not totally surprised.

"What's happened in the last 20 years is that while goaltending was once a hodgepodge of ideas and theories, it has turned into a science," Korn explained. "Those guys (the Allaires) came very close to starting that movement. They have broken the game down into a very simple game and have a game plan to address that. It's all about positioning and being big."

Jean-Sebastian Giguere struggled to find an NHL home, but now is the No. 1 goalie for the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim.

The butterfly style may stress being big on the ice, but few could imagine how big its adherents have become off the ice.

The fraternity of Quebec goalies in the NHL is a strong and vibrant one today. Each is proud of his part in bringing glory to their home province and each looks forward to doing his part to extend the legacy begun by Patrick Roy.

"The Quebec goalies, we all know each other pretty well," explains Giguere. "Over the years, you work out with each other all the time during the summer and you see the other guys around. We talk and get to know each other pretty well. It's nice to see those guys during the season and it's fun to go against them when you are playing their teams."

Fun, but also competitive, says Denis.

"I know when you play another French (Canadian) goalie, you want to beat him," says Denis. "But, off the ice, we all get along. It's nice to see the other guys. After the game, there might be a wink or whatever."

That camaraderie comes from the knowledge that each Quebec goalie is part of a process that gives the province a positive identity -- the cradle of goaltending -- in a game that the players and the province's people adore. And, they know their individual successes will only contribute to the next generation of goaltenders that will undoubtedly migrate from Quebec.

"Everywhere you go in Quebec, there's so much goaltending and everybody wants to be a goaltender now," says Allaire. "But, there can never be too many. We always have room to develop players as goaltenders. The more players attracted to the position, the better the development process is and the better the goaltenders that we develop. "